State Department: 'The World Should Pay More Attention To The Oppression Of Iranian People'

4 months ago

During a press briefing on Wednesday, State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller answered reporter questions on Iranian oppression.

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Transcript

00:00This morning, the Secretary released the 2023 International Freedom – Religious Freedom

00:09Report, where there is a considerable chapter on Iran.

00:13Today is also the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, which is tortures rampant

00:21in Iranian jails per your own annual reports on human rights in Iran.

00:27On Tuesday, yesterday, a group of political prisoners in Iran, they called – they asked

00:33that the world pay more attention to the human rights situation in Iran, especially in view

00:39of the recent comment by Ali Khamenei that among the officials of the judiciary system,

00:47he was saying ignore international or Western – quote, unquote – Western human rights

00:54standards and only national laws apply.

00:58Now, I was wondering, besides sanctions against Iranian officials, what other alternatives

01:06do you have to try to secure Iranian people's human rights?

01:11So, first of all, we absolutely agree that the world should pay more attention to the

01:16oppression of the Iranian people.

01:18And one of the things that we have done since the outset of this administration is to work

01:22to highlight human rights abuses inside Iran, highlight crackdowns on the freedom of the

01:29Iranian people.

01:30And we do that not just through our bilateral engagements around the world.

01:34We do it through public reports that we issue.

01:36You referred to one of them.

01:38And we also do it working through international fora, where we consistently raise the regime's

01:42brutal crackdown and brutal repression of the Iranian people and encourage other countries

01:47to raise their voices and object to it publicly and object to it privately.

01:52We also take measures to ensure that the Iranian people can stay connected to the outside

01:56world.

01:57We've talked before – you've heard me talk before from this podium about what we

01:59have done to ensure that they have access to the internet through VPNs so they – the

02:03Iranian people can find out from independent news sources outside Iran more about what

02:09their government is doing.

02:11And then I do think the measures that we impose, the accountability measures that we impose

02:16are important.

02:17We have imposed more than – I believe it's 600 sanctions and other measures on Iran and

02:23Iran-related entities since the outside of this administration.

02:26Some of those are for their support for terrorism and other destabilizing actions, but a number

02:30of them are for their oppression of the Iranian people, and we will continue to take those

02:34actions as appropriate.

02:35QUESTIONER 2 But Matt, sanctions don't – are not helping

02:38people.

02:39MR.

02:40MCGURK Well, so my point is sanctions are just one

02:41of the tools in our arsenal, ultimately calling out that oppression, making sure other countries

02:46focus on it.

02:47And we wish more countries would.

02:48Let's be perfectly frank.

02:49It would be – we would welcome other countries objecting to the brutal crackdowns of the

02:54Iranian people.

02:55We see some, of course, and to that statement, yes, a lot of them are in the Western world.

03:00We would welcome every country in the world speaking out against Iran's brutal crackdowns.

03:06And as I said, we also work to support the Iranian people, and those are the measures

03:09that we have available to us and we will continue to use them.

03:12QUESTIONER 2 Well, clearly, they're not going to listen

03:14as Khamenei has said to – MR.

03:15MCGURK I certainly don't think the regime in Tehran

03:19is going to listen.

03:20But as I said, we're going to continue to try to make sure the Iranian people can also

03:24get information from outside sources, and we support the Iranian people in their rights

03:31to exercise their freedom of expression and other basic rights available to them.

03:35Go ahead.

03:36QUESTIONER 3 Thank you, Matt.

03:37Staying on the religious – in your report in the Iraqi section, it says there are restrictions

03:44on freedom of religion remain widespread outside of Kurdistan but in some parts of the Iraq.

03:49And also, there are continuing reports of violence by the armed groups, sectarian groups

03:54like Iranian-backed groups on the religious minority in Iraq, especially in Sinjar, that

03:58the people, the Yazidi people, they fear to go back to their region because of these groups.

04:04So what tools and what measures do you have and have you put in place against these groups

04:09in order to take care responsibly?

04:12MR MCGURK So first of all, when it comes to the report

04:14that we released today, I'm not going to be able to give you a detailed answer as pertains

04:17to what's in the report.

04:18It's a long, detailed report.

04:19It covers scores of countries around the world, and I'm not an expert who can speak to every

04:24piece of information that was in the report.

04:27I will say the report itself is a – the point of the report itself is to make information

04:33public.

04:34It is not a – it is not the vehicle through which we impose accountability measures.

04:40It is the vehicle that informs the policy choices that we make.

04:43So it is one of the things that we do to gather information, to make that information public,

04:47and then we take into account all the information that's in the report to inform the policy

04:52choices, none of which I'm going to preview from here.

04:55QUESTION Another question on the Kurdistan Region.

04:57After a long postponement today, the Kurdistan Region President, Necman Barzani, sets October

05:0320th as the new date for the Kurdistan Region's election.

05:07As the U.S.

05:08Government were engaged and so encouraged the Kurdistan Region to schedule a date for

05:11that election, so what's your comment on that?

05:14And how do you see the process of preparation for that election and also the recent change

05:18to the election in that region?

05:20MR.

05:21ZUNIGA So we welcome the announcement of parliamentary

05:22elections on October 20th in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.

05:25Elections are a vital element of the democratic process, and we expect the authorities to

05:29ensure that they are free, transparent, and occur without further delay.

05:33And we appreciate the Iraqi Kurdistan Region's President's efforts to reach agreement between

05:38all parties.

State Department: 'The World Should Pay More Attention To The Oppression Of Iranian People'

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